LEWISVILLE — A photograph taken last year is adding more fuel to the fire in an abuse investigation involving a Lewisville middle school physical education teacher.
The picture appears to show a former coach lifting a student up by his armpits. It's not clear in the photo if the teacher from Hedrick Middle School is being abusive or joking around. But police and school administrators are concerned enough that they want to talk to the student who took the picture.
Police say aside from the hair-pulling allegations, this is the first time they've heard about another incident involving the teacher.
A former Hedrick Middle School student sent the photo to News 8, claiming it was taken last year. "We saw him do this twice," she wrote. "My friends and i never realized he was so rough with us until now."
"He" is the teacher who resigned last week after allegations he lifted three students up off the floor by pulling their hair.
Now, the student's cell phone photo will get a second look.
"Any alleged assault of children, the department takes seriously," said Lewisville police spokesman Capt. Jay Powell. "So anybody who has any information on this or any other assault, we'd love to hear from you."
News 8 also showed the photo to Lewisville school district administrators, who asked the principal at Hedrick to investigate.
"The photo captured a moment in time, so we want to talk to the student in the photo," said Lewisville ISD spokeswoman Karen Permetti.
District officials said they’re making progress trying to identify the people in the photograph, but the image is fuzzy — and that's the problem.
"With pictures, it's always so hard to know exactly what's going on," Capt. Powell said. "It can be taken out of context or they can show exactly what they seem to show."
The former Hedrick teacher has not been charged, but parents of a child involved in the alleged hair-pulling called the new photo "unbelievable" and asked: "What hope do we have if our teachers are setting this example?"
E-mail sstoler@wfaa.com
